Analysis of mass transport models for protein adsorption to cation exchanger by visualization with confocal laser scanning microscopy

The mass transfer of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to a cation exchanger, SP Sepharose FF, has been studied by finite batch adsorption experiments. The uptake curve was simulated with three mass transport models (i.e., effective pore diffusion model, surface diffusion model and Maxwell-Stefan model) incorporating the particle size distribution of the adsorbent particles. All the three models can simulate the uptake curves reasonably well. However, how well these models could simulate the real concentration profile within the adsorbent particle cannot be verified by the fitness of the models to the uptake curve. Thus, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to visualize protein uptake to the porous adsorbent particles during the batch experiments. Using a fluorescent dye-labeled bovine serum albumin (BSA) for the dynamic adsorption experiments, the radial concentration profiles of the labeled BSA molecules into individual adsorbent particles at different times were obtained from the CLSM images. The protein distribution profiles within various particle diameters at different time were compared with the radial protein distributions predicted from the models. It reveals that surface diffusion model describes the intraparticle protein concentration profiles better than the other two models.     

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins. IV. Protein adsorption capacity and transport in preparative mode

The adsorption isotherms of four model proteins (lysozyme, α-lactalbumin, ovalbumin, and BSA) on eight commercial phenyl hydrophobic interaction chromatography media were measured. The isotherms were softer than those usually seen in ion-exchange chromatography of proteins, and the static capacities of the media were lower, ranging from 30 to 110 mg/mL, depending on the ammonium sulfate concentration and the protein and adsorbent types. The protein-accessible surface area appears to be the main factor determining the binding capacity, and little correlation was seen with the protein affinities of the adsorbents. Breakthrough experiments showed that the dynamic capacities of the adsorbents at 10% breakthrough were 20-80% of the static capacities, depending on adsorbent type. Protein diffusivities in the adsorbents were estimated from batch uptake experiments using the pore diffusion and homogeneous diffusion models. Protein transport was affected by the adsorbent pore structures. Apparent diffusivities were higher at lower salt concentrations and column loadings, suggesting that adsorbed proteins may retard intraparticle protein transport. The diffusivities estimated from the batch uptake experiments were used to predict column breakthrough behavior. Analytical solutions developed for ion-exchange systems were able to provide accurate predictions for lysozyme breakthrough but not for ovalbumin. Impurities in the ovalbumin solutions used for the breakthrough experiments may have affected the ovalbumin uptake and led to the discrepancies between the predictions and the experimental results.     

Rapid monoclonal antibody adsorption on dextran-grafted agarose media for ion-exchange chromatography

The binding capacity and adsorption kinetics of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) are measured for experimental cation exchangers obtained by grafting dextran polymers to agarose beads and compared with measurements for two commercial agarose-based cation exchangers with and without dextran grafts. Introduction of charged dextran polymers results in enhanced adsorption kinetics despite a dramatic reduction of the accessible pore size as determined by inverse size-exclusion chromatography. Incorporation of neutral dextran polymers in a charged agarose bead results instead in substantially lower binding capacities. The effective pore diffusivities obtained from batch uptake curves increase substantially as the protein concentration is reduced for the resins containing charged dextran grafts, but are much less dependent on protein concentration for the resins with no dextran or uncharged dextran grafts. The batch uptake results are corroborated by microscopic observations of transient adsorption in individual particles. In all cases studied, the adsorption kinetics is characterized by a sharp adsorption front consistent with a shell-progressive, diffusion limited mechanism. Greatly enhanced transport rates are obtained with an experimental resin containing charged dextran grafts with effective pore diffusivities that are 1-9 times larger than the free solution diffusivity and adsorption capacity approaching 300 mg/cm3 of particle volume.     

IgG adsorption on a new protein A adsorbent based on macroporous hydrophilic polymers. I. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics

Experimental determination and modeling of IgG binding on a new protein A adsorbent based on a macroporous resin were performed. The new adsorbent consists of polymeric beads based on hydrophilic acrylamido and vinyl monomers with a pore structure optimized to allow favorable interactions of IgG with recombinant protein A coupled to the resin. The particles have average diameter of 57 μm and a narrow particle size distribution. The IgG adsorption equilibrium capacity is 46 mg/cm³ and the effective pore diffusivity determined from pulse response experiments for non-binding conditions is 8.0 × 10⁻⁸ cm²/s. The IgG adsorption kinetics can be described with the same effective diffusivity by taking into account a heterogeneous binding mechanism with fast binding sites, for which adsorption is completely diffusion controlled, and slow binding sites for which adsorption is controlled by the binding kinetics. As a result of this mechanism, the breakthrough curve exhibits a tailing behavior, which appears to be associated with the slow binding sites. A detailed rate model taking into account intraparticle diffusion and binding kinetics is developed and is found capable of predicting both batch adsorption and breakthrough behavior over an ample range of experimental conditions. The corresponding effective diffusivity is independent of protein concentration in solution over the range 0.2–2 mg/cm³ and of protein binding as a result of the large pore size of the support matrix. Overall, the small particle size and low diffusional hindrance allow capture of IgG with short residence times while attaining substantial dynamic binding capacities.     

Protein adsorption on novel acrylamido-based polymeric ion-exchangers. IV. Effects of protein size on adsorption capacity and rate

The effects of protein size on the adsorption capacity and rate is determined for an acrylamido-based polymeric anion-exchanger. The proteins lactalbumin, myoglobin, ovalbumin, BSA, conalbumin, IgG, and ferritin with molecular masses ranging from 15,000 to 450,000 were investigated. At high salt concentration (50 mM Tris-HCl containing 500 mM NaCl), only the smaller proteins lactalbumin and myoglobin gained access to a significant portion of the particle volume. The larger proteins were nearly completely excluded, in agreement with the results obtained for neutral macromolecules. By contrast, at low salt concentration (50 mM Tris-HCl), the adsorption capacity was very large (280-400 mg/ml of particle volume) for all the proteins studied except for ferritin, for which the capacity was much lower. This suggests that, provided the solute is not too large, the favorable electrostatic interaction overcomes the size exclusion effect. Adsorption rate measurements showed that mass transfer rates are also quite fast at low salt concentration. Effective diffusivities were determined by matching model and experimental results and were found to decrease substantially as the protein size increased. As previously observed, the homogeneous diffusion model was found to predict the experimentally observed trends with respect to protein concentration and boundary layer mass transfer effects.     

Dextran-grafted cation exchanger based on superporous agarose gel: Adsorption isotherms,uptake kinetics and dynamic protein adsorption performance

A novel chromatographic medium for high-capacity protein adsorption was fabricated by grafting dextran (40 kDa) onto the pore surfaces of superporous agarose (SA) beads. The bead was denoted as D-SA. D-SA, SA and homogeneous agarose (HA) beads were modified with sulfopropyl (SP) group to prepare cation exchangers, and the adsorption and uptake of lysozyme on all three cation-exchange chromatographic beads (SP-HA, SP-SA and SP-D-SA) were investigated at salt concentrations of 6–50 mmol/L. Static adsorption experiments showed that the adsorption capacity of SP-D-SA (2.24 mmol/g) was 78% higher than that of SP-SA (1.26 mmol/g) and 54% higher than that of SP-HA (1.45 mmol/g) at a salt concentration of 6 mmol/L. Moreover, salt concentration had less influence on the adsorption capacity and dissociation constant of SP-D-SA than it did on SP-HA, suggesting that dextran-grafted superporous bead is a more potent architecture for chromatographic beads. In the dynamic uptake of lysozyme to the three cation-exchange beads, the D_e/D₀ (the ratio of effective pore diffusivity to free solution diffusivity) values of 1.6–2.0 were obtained in SA-D-SA, indicating that effective pore diffusivities of SP-D-SA were about two times higher than free solution diffusivity for lysozyme. At 6 mmol/L NaCl, the D_e value in SA-D-SA (22.0 × 10⁻¹¹ m²/s) was 14.4-fold greater than that in SP-HA. Due to the superior uptake kinetics in SA-D-SA, the highest dynamic binding capacity (DBC) and adsorption efficiency (the ratio of DBC to static adsorption capacity) was likewise found in SP-D-SA. It is thus confirmed that SP-D-SA has combined the advantages of superporous matrix structure and drafted ligand chemistry in mass transport and offers a new opportunity for the development of high-performance protein chromatography.     

Protein adsorption and transport in dextran-modified ion-exchange media. II. Intraparticle uptake and column breakthrough

Protein transport behavior was compared for the traditional SP Sepharose Fast Flow and the dextran-modified SP Sepharose XL and Capto S resins. Examination of the dynamic binding capacities (DBCs) revealed a fundamental difference in the balance between transport and equilibrium capacity limitations when comparing the two resin classes, as reflected by differences in the locations of the maximum DBCs as a function of salt. In order to quantitatively compare transport behavior, confocal microscopy and batch uptake experiments were used to obtain estimates of intraparticle protein diffusivities. For the traditional particle, such diffusivity estimates could be used to predict column breakthrough behavior accurately. However, for the dextran-modified media, neither the pore- nor the homogeneous-diffusion model was adequate, as experimental dynamic binding capacities were consistently lower than predicted. In examining the shapes of breakthrough curves, it was apparent that the model predictions failed to capture two features observed for the dextran-modified media, but never seen for the traditional resin. Comparison of estimated effective pore diffusivities from confocal microscopy and batch uptake experiments revealed a discrepancy that led to the hypothesis that protein uptake in the dextran-modified resins could occur with a shrinking-core-like sharp uptake front, but with incomplete saturation. The reason for the incomplete saturation is speculated to be that protein initially fills the dextran layer with inefficient packing, but can rearrange over time to accommodate more protein. A conceptual model was developed to account for the partial shrinking-core uptake to test whether the physical intuition led to predictions consistent with experimental behavior. The model could correctly reproduce the two unique features of the breakthrough curves and, in sample applications, parameters found from the fit of one breakthrough curve could be used to adequately match breakthrough at a different flow rate or batch uptake behavior.     

Effects of affinity and aggregation on parallel diffusion of tri-sulfonated azo compounds into water-swollen cellulose membranes

Adsorption and diffusion of tri-sulfonated azo dyes, C.I. Acid Red 18 and C.I. Acid Red 27 onto waterswollen cellulose membrane has been studied at 25°C. Affinities of these dyes onto cellulose were evaluated by the coefficients of Freundlich equation. Diffusion behavior of these days was analyzed on the basis of a parallel transport theory by surface and pore diffusion. The results could be described by the parallel diffusion model provided that adsorption was stimulated by addition of NaCl. The surface diffusivities for the parallel diffusion model were correlated by the affinity of the dyes, on the other hand, the pore diffusivities for the model were affected by aggregation of the dye depending on its structure and NaCl concentration.     

Evaluation of protein-A chromatography media

In process-scale antibody purification, protein-A affinity chromatography is commonly used as the initial purification step. In this paper, two different protein-A media were evaluated. These adsorbents have a porous glass backbone with different pore sizes: 700 A and 1000 A. Adsorption equilibrium data of human immunoglobulins on these media were measured via a batch technique and correlated using the Langmuir isotherm model. A larger static capacity was found for the smaller pore size material, which is probably a result of the larger specific surface area and associated higher ligand concentration. The protein uptake kinetics were also obtained via a stirred tank experiment using different initial protein concentrations. A surface layer model was used to represent the protein uptake by the media and to estimate values of a concentration-independent effective diffusivity within the particle. Experimental breakthrough curves were also obtained from packed beds operated under different conditions. Calculated breakthrough profiles were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. Experimental breakthrough data were used to determine the dependence of the dynamic capacity of the media as a function of the fluid residence time. A larger dynamic capacity was also found for the smaller pore size media. The permeability of large scale packed beds was also reported and used in conjunction with the dynamic capacity to calculate the process production rate.     

Electrochemical characterization of an asymmetric nanofiltration membrane with NaCl and KCl solutions: influence of membrane asymmetry on transport parameters

Electrochemical characterization of a nanofiltration asymmetric membrane was carried out by measuring membrane potential, salt diffusion, and electrical parameters (membrane electrical resistance and capacitance) with the membrane in contact with NaCl and KCl solutions at different concentrations (10(-3)< or =c(M)< or =5 x 10(-2)). From these experiments characteristic parameters such as the effective concentration of charge in the membrane, ionic transport numbers, and salt and ionic permeabilities across the membrane were determined. Membrane electrical resistance and capacitance were obtained from impedance spectroscopy (IS) measurements by using equivalent circuits as models. This technique allows the determination of the electrical contribution associated with each sublayer; then, assuming that the dense sublayer behaves as a plane capacitor, its thickness can be estimated from the capacitance value. The influence of membrane asymmetry on transport parameters have been studied by carrying out measurements for the two opposite external conditions. Results show that membrane asymmetry strongly affects membrane potential, which is attributed to the Donnan exclusion when the solutions in contact with the dense layer have concentrations lower than the membrane fixed charge (X(ef) approximately -0.004 M), but for the reversal experimental condition (high concentration in contact with the membrane dense sublayer) the membrane potential is practically similar to the solution diffusion potential. The comparison of results obtained for both electrolytes agrees with the higher conductivity of KCl solutions. On the other hand, the influence of diffusion layers at the membrane/solution interfaces in salt permeation was also studied by measuring salt diffusion at a given NaCl concentration gradient but at five different solutions stirring rates.     

Protein adsorption and transport in agarose and dextran-grafted agarose media for ion exchange chromatography: Effect of ionic strength and protein characteristics

This work investigates the effects of ionic strength and protein characteristics on adsorption and transport of lysozyme, BSA, and IgG in agarose-based cation exchangers with short ligand chemistry and with charged dextran grafts. In all cases, the adsorption equilibrium capacity decreased with increasing salt. However, the adsorption kinetics was strongly influenced by the adsorbent structure and protein characteristics. For the smaller and positively charged lysozyme, the effective pore diffusivity was only weakly dependent on salt for the dextran-free media, but declined sharply with salt for the dextran-grafted materials. For this protein, the dextran grafts enhanced the adsorption kinetics at low salt, but the enhancement vanished at higher salt concentrations. For BSA, which was near its isoelectric point for the experimental conditions studied, the effective diffusivity was low for all materials and almost independent of salt. Finally, for the larger and positively charged IgG, the effective diffusivity varied with salt, reaching an apparent maximum at intermediate concentrations for both dextran-free and dextran-grafted media with the kinetics substantially enhanced by the dextran grafts for these conditions. Microscopic observations of the particles during protein adsorption at low ionic strengths showed transient patterns characterized by sharp adsorption fronts for all materials. A theory taking into account surface or adsorbed phase diffusion with electrostatic coupling of diffusion fluxes is introduced to explain the mechanism for the enhanced adsorption kinetics observed for the positively charged proteins.     

Breakthrough Model of Recombinant Human-Like Collagen in Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography

The adsorption of recombinant human-like collagen by metal chelate media was investigated in a batch reactor and in a fixed-bed column. The adsorption equilibrium and kinetics had been studied by batch adsorption experiments. Equilibrium parameters and protein diffusivities were estimated by matching the models with the experimental data. Using the parameters of equilibrium and kinetics, various models, such as axial diffusion model, linear driving force model, and constant pattern model, were used to simulate the breakthrough curves on the columns. As a result, the most suitable isotherm was the Langmuir–Freundlich model, and the ionic strength had no effect on the adsorption capacity of chelate media. In addition, the pore diffusion model fitted very well to the kinetic data. The pore diffusivities decreased with increasing the initial protein concentration, however had little change with the ionic strength. The results also indicated that the models predict breakthrough curves reasonably well to the experimental data, especially at low initial protein concentration (0.3 mg ml⁻¹) and low flow rate (34 cm h⁻¹). By the results, we optimized the experimental conditions of a chromatographic process using immobilized metal affinity chromatography to purify recombinant human-like collagen.     

Analysis of diffusion models for protein adsorption to porous anion-exchange adsorbent

The ion-exchange adsorption kinetics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and gamma-globulin to an anion exchanger, DEAE Spherodex M, has been studied by batch adsorption experiments. Various diffusion models, that is, pore diffusion, surface diffusion, homogeneous diffusion and parallel diffusion models, are analyzed for their suitabilities to depict the adsorption kinetics. Protein diffusivities are estimated by matching the models with the experimental data. The dependence of the diffusivities on initial protein concentration is observed and discussed. The adsorption isotherm of BSA is nearly rectangular, so there is little surface diffusion. As a result, the surface and homogeneous diffusion models do not fit to the kinetic data of BSA adsorption. The adsorption isotherm of gamma-globulin is less favorable, and the surface diffusion contributes greatly to the mass transport. Consequently, both the surface and homogeneous diffusion models fit to the kinetic data of gamma-globulin well. The adsorption kinetics of BSA and gamma-globulin can be very well fitted by parallel diffusion model, because the model reflects correctly the intraparticle mass transfer mechanism. In addition, for both the favorably bound proteins, the pore diffusion model fits the adsorption kinetics reasonably well. The results here indicate that the pore diffusion model can be used as a good approximate to depict protein adsorption kinetics for protein adsorption systems from rectangular to linear isotherms.     

Phosphate Removal from Aqueous Solution by an Effective Clay Composite Material

Adsorption is an effective treatment process for removing phosphorus and thus controlling eutrophication. In this study, a clay composite material called Al–dolomite–montmorillonite (Al–DM) was prepared and characterized. Al–DM performed well with respect to phosphate removal, with its performance depending on the Al–DM loading, contact time, initial phosphorus concentration and initial solution pH. Adsorption mechanisms were investigated by conducting batch tests on phosphate adsorption using the Al–DM. The adsorption process fitted both the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the intra-particle diffusion model. The Langmuir, Freundlich and BET models all adequately described the adsorption isotherm data. Thermodynamic studies showed that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Al–DM is an effective adsorbent for phosphate removal mainly due to its hierarchical porous structures as shown by characterization with SEM and EDS. Chemical changes occurring before and after adsorption in a water environment indicated that Al–DM had little negative effect on water quality.     

Separation characteristics of some phenoxy herbicides from aqueous solution

The adsorption and desorption characteristics of some phenoxy herbicides (CPA 2,4-D, and MCPA) from an aqueous solution on the active carbon materials (GAC, F-400) were studied. Adsorption equilibrium capacities of the phenoxy herbicides increased with a decrease in pH of the solution. Adsorption equilibrium isotherms were represented by the Sips equation. Kinetic parameters were measured in a batch adsorber to analyze the adsorption rates of the phenoxy herbicides. The internal diffusion coefficients were determined by comparing the experimental concentration curves with those predicted from the surface diffusion model and the pore diffusion model. The adsorption model based on the linear driving force approximation (LDFA) was used to simulate the adsorption behavior of the phenoxy herbicides in a fixed bed adsorber. Over 95 percent desorption of the phenoxy herbicides was obtained using distilled water.     

In situ determination of adsorption kinetics of proteins in a finite bath

A method for fast in situ measurement of adsorption kinetics based on a finite bath was developed. We modified the conventional finite bath by replacing the external loop by a dip probe which enables in situ measurement of the concentration change in the contactor. Deposition of adsorbent particles on the reflection surface of the dip probe compromised measurements. Different membranes, a polyamide, a polypropylene and a nylon membrane were tested to protect the internal reflection surface of the dip probe from fouling with adsorbent particles. The nylon membrane provided efficient protection and high mass transfer evaluated by response time experiments. Unspecific adsorption of the model protein on the membrane could also be excluded. To corroborate the measurements of the dip probe the results were compared to a conventional finite bath and to a shallow-bed. The uptake curves for human polyclonal IgG at different concentrationes (0.1-3 g/l) on rProtein A Sepharose FF and MabSelect were used as model system. The effective diffusion coefficients were determined using a pore diffusion model. These values were in good agreement for all methods.     

Retention of Cs on zeolite, bentonite and their mixtures

The sorption behavior of cesium on zeolite and bentonite minerals and their mixtures was studied by means of a batch method and a tracer technique. All experiments were carried out in the presence of CsCl spiked with ¹³⁷Cs and NaCl as a supporting electrolyte in varying concentrations. The distribution coefficients (K _D) did not show significant differences at low Cs⁺ loadings while they decreased in the high loading region. Freundlich and D-R isotherms were applied to the adsorption data of zeolite and bentonite. Adsorption capacities and mean energies calculated from D-R isotherm parameters decreased by increasing ionic strength on both minerals. The identification of the specific uptake sites was attempted on the basis of the Freundlich isotherm. Experimentally observed distribution coefficients of Cs on two mineral mixtures were smaller than theoretically calculated values, except at the highest NaCl concentration.     

Interaction of immunoglobulin G with N,N,N',N'-ethylenediaminetetramethylenephosphonic acid-modified zirconia

Zirconia beads (25-38 microm in diameter) were modified with N,N,N'.N'-ethylenediaminetetramethylenephosphonic acid to generate a pseudo-biospecific support, r_PEZ. To better understand the force of interaction between the IgG and the r_PEZ, the equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) was determined by static binding isotherms, as a function of temperature and by frontal analysis at different linear velocities. Temperature had no significant impact on the maximum static binding capacity (Q(max)) and the equilibrium-binding constant (Kd), whereas pH and the salt concentration had a noticeable impact on both Q(max) and Kd values. Q(max) was found to be in the range of 55-65 mg IgG per ml of beads and unaffected by temperature. The maximum dynamic binding capacity (Qx) was found to be in the range of 20-12 mg IgG per ml of beads. The adsorption rate constant (ka) was determined by a split-peak approach to be between 982 and 32421 mol(-1) s(-1) depending on the linear velocity. Adsorption rate of IgG on r_PEZ was studied as a function of both feed concentration and linear velocity. The standard enthalpy and entropy values were estimated for the interaction of IgG with this novel support. The binding constants were also determined by modeling the batch protein-uptake data.     

Synthesis of phosphorus-modified poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) chelating resin and its adsorption properties of uranium(VI)

A new phosphorus-modified poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) chelating resin (PS–N–P) was synthesized by P,P-dichlorophenylphosphine oxide modified commercially available ammoniated polystyrene beads, and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The adsorption properties of PS–N–P toward U(VI) from aqueous solution were evaluated using batch adsorption method. The effects of the contact time, temperature, pH and initial uranium concentration on uranium(VI) uptake were investigated. The results show that the maximum adsorption capacity (97.60 mg/g) and the maximum adsorption rate (99.72 %) were observed at the pH 5.0 and 318 K with initial U(VI) concentration 100 mg/L and adsorbent dose 1 g/L. Adsorption equilibrium was achieved in approximately 4 h. Adsorption kinetics studied by pseudo second-order model stated that the adsorption was the rate-limiting step (chemisorption). U(VI) adsorption was found to barely decrease with the increase in ionic strength. Equilibrium data were best modeled by the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters such as ?G ₀, ?H ₀ and ?S ₀ were derived to predict the nature of adsorption. Adsorbed U(VI) ions on PS–N–P resin were desorbed effectively (about 99.39 %) by 5 % NaOH–10 % NaCl. The synthesized resin was suitable for repeated use.